Official MLBlog of the Kansas City Royals front office.

Draft press conference notes: June 6

The Royals completed their selections in the 2012 First-Year Rule 4 Player Draft today, a process that started immediately after last year’s draft. J.J. Picollo, Assistant GM for Scouting and Player Development, was joined by Director of Scouting Lonnie Goldberg at today’s press conference. A few notes:

*The Royals announced five signings (#3, 7, 8, 14 and 15) and expect to have more signings in the next few days, which will allow for a true mini-camp for the draftees.

*Goldberg mentioned that the Royals are optimistic about getting a deal completed in the next few days with first-round pick Kyle Zimmer.

*Second-round pick Sam Selman came on strong toward the end of the year. He is viewed as a middle of the rotation pitcher with upside.

*Third-round pick Colin Rodgers bypassed an opportunity to pitch at Auburn by signing today. He had a ‘why wait’ approach when it came to college vs. pro baseball. The signing was attributed to great scouting and cross-checking by Travis Ezi and Gregg Kilby, respectively.

*Picollo said that the Royals expect to sign players quickly under the new draft rules (this year’s deadline is July 13, up from August 15 last year). This is a combination of hard work from the scouts, the understanding of those advising the players and the families.

*According to Picollo, the Royals felt that this draft wasn’t as deep when it came to college position players. That is reflected in KC’s draft pool, which featured 24 pitchers out of 40 players.

*The draft is 10 rounds shorter this year, resulting in more available free agent players. The Royals feel that they’ll sign a considerable number of the 40 players, thus they may not have as big of need to ink players from the free agent pool.

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